Madonna/Monroe/Crawford, unexpectedly good despite skin issues

I had a Monroe piercing done last year by Reagan at King of Rings in Bendigo.

The boring stuff: I'd been thinking about getting another piercing for a while and someone had suggested it would look good on me. I hadn't thought about it much previously, discounting it as being too "pretty" for my face or.. I'm not really sure. At any rate, it got stuck in my head and I began thinking about it more seriously. I was still a bit unsure about it right up until my appointment, but went in thinking that if I hated it I could always take it out and have something else done to replace it. I also had a VCH done at the same time as this piercing, but I've written about that in another experience so I won't repeat myself here.

I decided on King of Rings after having had other successful piercings done there and just basically liking the place and the piercers. I'd moved away from Bendigo but didn't yet know any place reputable in my new town, so I waited until I went home to visit my family to book in at King of Rings.

At the time of my appointment (I always like to make an appointment so they know I'm coming and I don't have to wait) I went in to see Reagan and explained what I wanted to have done. She's always friendly and makes piercing-related chit-chat, she applied some numbing cream to my upper lip and told me to go for a bit of a walk and come back in fifteen or twenty minutes. When I got back in to the studio we talked about placement, I showed her where I wanted it, which was reasonably high above my lip, and she suggested I have it placed just a few millimetres lower so that it would heal more easily. The placement I had chosen was through tissue slightly more dense and also subject to more movement, but the new placement was very close to the old so I didn't mind changing it at all. She marked me up with ink and we agreed on the spot, then she placed clamps on my upper lip and pierced me with the needle. I can't remember which way she pierced, although for some reason I think it
may have been from inside out. She then took out the needle and replaced it with a flat back labret stud which was long enough to accommodate the swelling that would occur. The piercing didn't bleed and was over quite quickly. Although the piercing itself did hurt a small amount, once the jewellery was in I experienced no pain at all. The feeling is more like how you feel after you've been hit in the face with a ball and gotten over a bit  you still know it happened but it's more of a shock than an injury anymore. I should also mention that Reagan was very clean throughout and changed her gloves when necessary.

The flat back felt a little strange on my gums for a few days while I got used to it, then it worked itself a little way into my flip so that it sat flush and didn't get caught on anything anymore. During the whole healing process I used Protat solution twice a day to clean it with a cotton bud, which I bought from King of Rings and highly recommend. Things seemed to be healing up okay, although a few months after I'd had it done my skin around the piercing became slightly red and inflamed. I didn't think too much of it, and started using salt water in a shot glass to soak it twice a day to nip any infection in the bud. The salt water made it feel a lot better, but it didn't seem to be clearing up so eventually I sat down at the mirror and had a good poke around to see what was going on  turned out the skin on the inside of my mouth was starting to grow over the flat back. My solution was not something I'd recommend, I simply got inside my mouth with a pair of scissors and c
ut the offending skin off. There was a lot of blood, but surprisingly it didn't hurt at all. I hoped that would be enough to do the trick but a few days later the skin began to grow over again and I knew it must be something to do with the jewellery that was allowing it to be so feisty. In the end, it turned out that the flat back of my jewellery was much thinner than any of the other ones I'd had put in my mouth before, and didn't cause enough of an obstruction to the skin around. I was back in Canberra by now, so I couldn't go and see King of Rings and have them put other jewellery in for me, so I just bought another bar of the same length with a thicker back and put it in myself: success! Since then I haven't had any more overgrown skin issues and it's behaved perfectly. I've grown quite attached to it and as you can guess, didn't take it out as I thought I might have done.

I'd also like to mention as an aside that once I had to take it out for a job interview but couldn't manage to get it out myself. I live in Canberra now, and haven't had anything pierced here yet so I just went around to a few places to see if they would do it for me. At first I tried Redpath in Garema Place, because I'd seen a sign that they do body piercings, and didn't like them at all. Firstly the piercer didn't come out to speak to me himself but just passed on messages through the girl at the counter, she told me that he wouldn't do it because he didn't touch people he hadn't pierced himself, and then she said he actually would do it for me but that it would cost $20 (!) just to have the barbell taken out. I said no thankyou and went to Freestyle Tattoo on Northbourne Avenue where they took it out for free and were really pleasant and friendly. So although I've not had anything pierced in Canberra, I would recommend Freestyle Tattoo based simply on their customer servic
e.

Also if you're in Bendigo King of Rings is the place to go!

Details

submitted by: Anonymouson: 30 June 2008in
Lip Piercing

Use this link to share:

Artist: ReaganStudio: King+of+RingsLocation: Bendigo%2C+VIC+Australia

Comments (0)

We are an uncommon subculture and community built by and for modified people. We are the historians, practitioners and appreciators of body modification. We are the collaborative and comprehensive resource for the freedom of individuality in thought, expression and aesthetic. We serve you and ourselves as a source of inspiration, entertainment and community.

Welcome to the new BME.com If you have questions, or you discover issues please email us here.